September 20, 9am PDT, 12pm EDT, 6pm CEST The theme of this year’s Peer Review Week, “quality in peer review,” should resonate with anyone—author, referee, or reader—invested in the process of formal publication. But how can those without a direct window into the peer review process be assured of its quality, both the entire body…

As part of preparations to launch a new journal-independent peer-reviewing platform in collaboration with ASAPbio, EMBO has recently posted a job ad for the position of Managing Editor. EMBO is seeking a highly motivated scientist with broad and international high-level research experience […] The platform will produce high-quality portable peer-reviews that can be directly used…

Dear subscribers, This month, we present opportunities to discuss bias in peer review and share our latest research activities about preprints. We hope you’ll join us at upcoming events and discussions. Discuss bias in peer review with ReimagineReview Scientific peer review is ideally based solely on the merit of the research; in the real world,…

Scientific peer review is ideally based solely on the merit of the research; in the real world, however, it is susceptible to the inherent bias of editors and reviewers. Traditional peer review is performed behind closed doors and the resulting lack of data has made studying reviewer bias challenging. In fact, bias as a potential…

Dear subscribers, We hope your summer (or winter, depending on your hemisphere) is off to a great start. Here are some highlights from us in the office from the months since our last update: ReimagineReview Earlier this year, we launched a directory of innovative peer review experiments, both inside and outside of the journal system.…

Today, we’re excited to announce the launch of Transpose (@TransposeSCI), a database of journal peer review, co-reviewing, and preprint policies relating to media coverage, licensing, versions, and citation. These policies can often be difficult to find, unclear, or undefined. Our hope is to bring them to light so that authors, readers, reviewers, and other stakeholders…

Over the last year, the Transpose team (which includes ASAPbio staff Naomi Penfold and Jessica Polka and board member Jennifer Lin) have been working to produce a database of journal peer review, co-reviewing, and (detailed) preprint policies. We anticipate the launch of this database along with an interactive website in the coming weeks. In the…

Publishing peer review reports has many benefits, but critics often worry that it’s unlikely to be read or seen. This isn’t true: data suggest that peer review reports can receive 10% or ⅓ of the traffic to the article itself. However, it stands to reason that this number could go up or down depending on…

This post originally appeared on ReimagineReview. ReimagineReview launched one month ago, and it’s been amazing to watch it continue to grow since its inception! This project started from the idea of transforming a spreadsheet of experiments and projects in peer review of scholarly outputs into a practical resource. Our launch was announced in an article in Nature News,…

This post originally appeared on The Scholarly Kitchen on 2019-03-26. Cover image via Eddi Aguirre. The design of critical infrastructure determines what its users can do, and when. For example, the New York City subway system carries 1.7 billion passengers annually, shapes centers of residential and commercial activity, and enables a vibrant culture with its late night…

Those who have been following ASAPbio for a while know that journal policies on preprinting are always in flux. As adoption of preprints—and editors’ comfort with them—increase, these changes are typically positive. However, one potential downside to a rapidly-evolving policy landscape is the potential difficulty authors may face in finding their footing, especially when preprint…

Today, we’re excited to announce the launch of ReimagineReview, a registry of platforms and experiments innovating around peer review. We now have the technology to experiment with peer review and research evaluation in ways that were not possible decades ago. Many such experiments are already underway—both within the traditional journal system and outside of it—that…

We thank our previous funders (the Simons, Sloan, Arnold, and Moore Foundations) and our hosts (the National Institutes of Health, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the National Academies, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences) for supporting our meetings and activities.

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ASAPbio is a scientist-driven nonprofit working to promote innovation and transparency in the life sciences.

We are a 501(c)(3) registered in the state of California with entity number C3975544.